Photo by Doug Valentine Members of Fort Detrick’s first communter vanpool program in front of their daily ride to and from work.

A van pool is a group of 5-15 people who commute together on a regular basis in a van. Each van pool has a primary driver⁄coordinator and one or more alternate drivers.

Participants share the cost of the van and all other operating expenses. Riders usually meet at a designated pick-up location like a shopping center parking lot or a park and ride location.

Benefits to joining the vanpool go beyond employees fighting the traffic daily, but there are financial as well. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included a provision which significantly increased the maximum tax free benefit for the Department of Defense Mass Transportation Benefit Program.

The MTBP is a program that allows any active duty military member or civilian DoD employee to receive up to $230 per month for transportation costs if they are using a qualified mode of transportation.

The qualified modes of transportation include bus, train and vanpool, and the DoD transit subsidy will cover all vanpool expenses for most vanpool groups that have at least seven participants, meaning the commute will be effectively free for most end users.

Contractors can also participate in a vanpool, but it is up to individual employers to offer similar transportation benefits. Even without this support, many contractors find that participation in a vanpool is financially advantageous, in addition to the environmental benefits.

The MTBP is run by vanpool company VPSI, Inc. of Richmond, Va., and provides Fort Detrick with a 15-passanger van to pickup and drop-off the employees, coming from southern Franklin County, Pa. and northeastern Washington County, Md.

‘‘We are delighted about the program starting [on Fort Detrick],” said Dotty Dalphon, Community Relations manager, TransIT Services of Frederick County, ‘‘because this has taken approximately [10] cars off the road, which helps the enviroment and helps in reducing congestion. It also opens 15 parking spaces on Fort Detrick.”

Dalphon said she also hope to use the Fort Detrick vanpool as a model for other business in Frederick County.

Lanessa Hill also contributed to this article.